♦Welcome to another edition of the Open Book Blog Hop!♦
Topic #524
From your story’s point of view, how does it feel when you,
the author, writes “The End?”
Welcome back to another Open Book Blog Hop, Friend! The authors included in this ongoing learning series wish to thank you for your reading. Even more so, we appreciate that you share our writing with friends. If you’re new to the series, welcome aboard. The authors engage and impress weekly. Prepare to become a regular reader.
This is the end. The end my friend… There’s a hard to describe feeling that comes with the close of a novel. Do you remember that scene in Romancing the Stone (1984)? Kathleen Turner wiping her eyes with whatever paper product she can find because the shopping hasn’t been done in sometime, and she’s a writer, which means she can’t afford crap. I used to think that was so over the top, until it happened to me one day.
Writing the end of your project, especially one you’ve busted your ass on for months to years, carries an elation and depression that clash within you like a thunderous joust. Yes, the emotions are at odds, but that tracks with how complex reality is. Think about spending all that time with your favorite people and lovingly reviled (sometimes outright hated) villains. There’s a lot of feelings to process as you let go of the tumultuous ups and downs, for me exciting and deeply dangerous adventures.
In some ways, you’re relieved to have removed this story from brain to page, a painstaking art surgery, and the recovery time hinges on what is left to do. You’re not necessarily leaving these people, you now have to go back over it all, add details and clean things up. The physical therapy begins, painfully and painstakingly. There may be further surgeries to pull out the remains of the story.
The Recovery Can Be Long…
Depending on what you’ve written, the work can serve as a traumatic or cathartic experience for the writer. I’ve written about war and abuse. Both required deep dives into history and self. Addressing the shadow self and the past (collective or personal) is a serious matter. There’s no skirting that trauma. Think about the absolute horror of discovering the humanity in those who committed crimes against humanity in World War II or during the period of the U.S. Civil War. Or, walking with the demonic and pure evil, human or otherwise.
Writing the end can serve as a release, a relief. You can let go a bit at this point. Hold on loosely, but don’t let go… There’s healing and further unpacking to process, along with letting go. Such a mixed bag of emotions, like surviving a tragedy. For authors or readers, that is a similar experience. Did you know that human brains struggle to differentiate between the real and imagined? Incredible. Now you know why it’s such an explosion of feeling. You survived. Those you made your mind up to care about have survived or been lost. There’s very real grief in this period.
Although we may write a happy end, there is still grief for what has been forever changed and the need to process such things. There is the grief that comes with finishing a project that took so much of you and your time to manage, while wondering if this can be done again. There is grief, worrying about how we will move on and do the final steps.
Have you ever asked a writer if they like the rewrite and polish stage of writing? The face says it all. Of course, there are those weird ones among us who love this part (I may or may not be one). Switching from creator to creative assessor is a mindf–k! You switch from nurturing and cultivating to tearing down and being critical (overly?). If you don’t look at it more positively, like a gardener who cultivates their garden, removing detrimental growth and unwanted plants from the bed, you will struggle emotionally from the process. It can feel abusive.
We go through a lot as writers. Joan Wilder was a pretty good visual representation, but just captures the surface of all that is going on. Click on the links below in the scroll box to find out how the other author answered this great question. Leave us your questions in the comments and subscribe before you go. This way the hop will continue and it will arrive in your inbox without having to search for us weekly. See you next time!
I’ve never thought of reaching the end of a story as a moment of grief, but I can see it. That may be why I find myself avoiding writing the last few pages.
It is so hard to let go.